bill: we'll wait for more news out of the state department and the pentagon today. thank you, john bolton, mr. ambassador, good to have you here. 22 minutes before the hour, martha. martha: there are new concerns about al-qaida's growing influence in north africa and their desire to strike more western targets. this comes after last month's hostage crisis at an algerian gas plant that left 30 people dead, including three americans. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in washington with more. how advanced is this plotting. >> senior u.s. intelligence officials discuss the threat picture in north africa. before this morning's attack on the u.s. embassy in turkey intelligence officials describing to hit western as well as u.s. car gets as aspirational as the goal of al-qaida in north africa, not just concrete plots with established planning. the attack on the gas plant in mid january, the hostage crisis there led secretary of state hillary clinton to concede that the threat to u.s. interests in the region was growing as these groups pull their